That’s Why I’m Here chronicles a multi-coastal search for an alternative way of life, from the perspective of a character conceived and played by Rathus.

With a mélange of influences from many time periods and cultures, the narrative meanders through an assortment of fictional and nonfictional stories, including the cultural histories of Norway, Iceland, and the Hudson Valley. Morals taken from the Hávamál (a collection of Old Norse poems from the Viking Age attributed to the god Odin) are mixed with fragments of Hudson Valley fables, such as “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving, to create inspiration for a wandering soul as her sense of self, time, fiction and the real begin to blend. The project is a collaboration between Site95/curator Meaghan Kent, Torrance Shipman gallery (NY) and Prosjektrom Normanns.

Photos: Mario Gallucci

That's Why I'm Here

4K Film, 37'11

Installation View

Upfor Gallery

Who Travels Widely

Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable

Who Travels Widely (Detail)

Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable

Who Travels Widely

Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable

Go You Must

Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable

Go You Must (Detail)

Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable

Go You Must (Detail)

Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable

Wall text in artist typeface

Dimensions Variable / Quotes Variable

Wall text in artist typeface (detail)

Wall text in artist typeface (this section from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow")